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Topic: New swamp terrain

Marcelo_do_Pagode
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Joined: 2011-07-23, 18:59
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Location: Brazil
Posted at: 2011-08-15, 20:49

Well, seems to me that it really comes down to what kind of swamp you guys want. We used to have a swamp area in my family farm, but without too much water in it, so that you couldn't see any water in it. In that case, you really didn't see any movements there, only when you tried to walk over it. You knew it was a swamp by the looks of it and by trying to step on it, but there wasn't any movements present. That would be a more or less "dry swamp" (just to put a name on it).

On the other hand, there are swamps that are a rather flooded area ("wet" swamp) with lots of mud and what-nots, where the whole thing have a waving effect as stated by Astuur: an animation similar to what we have for ocean/river but much slower.

Finally, there are the swamps that have natural gas activity ("gas" swamp), where you have the boiling effect.

So, any of the three possibilities are "real-life" possibilities. Since chuck is the graphics elder, you should state what kind of swamp you have in mind for the game, and then the animation should be made with your choice in mind. Cheers!


Edited for better text presentation.

Edited: 2011-08-15, 20:51

Marcelo do Pagode
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Colorado com muito orgulho!

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-08-19, 21:21

True Marcelo, ... I still don't know what I really want face-smile.png
It should look "impassable", dangerous and recognizable as a bog...

I am still experimenting.
To day I tried with a fix pattern with holes and an animated dark water underneath.
Definitely not totally satisfying; my ideas about a "heaving" plant cover didn't work out either.... so you see, I still at it, though not with the right ideas, it seems...

Edited: 2011-08-19, 21:22

Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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chuckw
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Posted at: 2011-08-19, 23:32

It is a good attempt none the less.


I see little people.

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-08-20, 16:14

Next move:

This one is a very gently drifting greenery surface with some brownish, sunlit turf water underneath, moving at its own rhythm.
So things are clearly moving towards a highland moore, not really a swamp.
But who knows, if we can break the 16 terrain types limit, (awaiting SirVer's assessment) we may get both in the end.
For the time being, I'll go with the moore. Anyway it suits the rest of the Greenland landscape better, IMO.
I personally like this one better than the last one, but there may be one or two issues:

  • The movement is very subtle, even on 640x480. How does it look on your monitor at your usual resolution? Please give some feedback.

  • I wanted some light in the water, to show, that it has a certain amount of yellowish transparency, still. But my main beam got placed so that is almost fully visible and is now quite intrusive.
    Tolerable or not?

For those who want to see it in the game, the files are here

Copy into the widelands/worlds/greenland/pics subdir
Try 6 to 8 fps in widelands/worlds/greenland/terrainconf


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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kingcreole

Joined: 2010-12-18, 12:13
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Posted at: 2011-08-20, 16:19

i guess that green stuff is surposed not to move and maybe can you get that mud stuff a little darker? might just look a little more dangerous how swamplands normaly are...


live is my dancefloor as long as my lag works

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kingcreole

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Posted at: 2011-08-20, 16:22

that swimming effect might look good, anyway, alphamasked plants ontop of it (wich therefore would not move) might get it to look more realistic face-wink.png


live is my dancefloor as long as my lag works

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-08-20, 20:32

@ kingcreole: Thanks for commenting!
So I take it you saw the "swimming effect" face-smile.png
Good!
The green stuff actually is supposed to move.
That is a very wet bog. and I wanted to have that look dangerous, not so much the dark water. The idea was "Can't swimm in there, will get all tangled up, can't row there either and can't walk there, you'll sink in."

As for plants ... I guess the only plants that could root there should be trees - mangroves most likely (in tropical climate) or maybe alders in this world. And they can be placed by the mapmaker. Also some died trees might look good.
I could of course, blend in yet another layer with a non-moving plant, but anything that draws attention, also directs your attention at the ever repeating 64x64 pixel tiles. The same recognizable plant in each an every field will look just stupid. That is why I'm against it.


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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kingcreole

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Posted at: 2011-08-20, 22:28

true, true face-smile.png maybe only a last perfection would be to somehow get those plants to be drawn under the mud and get up again (dunno if that would be too much anyway, you´re the expert) luckyly (or however you spell it) we got those immovables for drawing the atention so its true, we don't need atention drawn to the ground...


live is my dancefloor as long as my lag works

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chuckw
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Posted at: 2011-08-21, 19:03

@Astuur - your latest graphic post 5726 is the effect I had pictured in my minds eye. I wouldn't object at all to this in the game. Nice work.
As for additional vegetation, I agree that such elements should be independent from the terrain tiles, and be handled as "immovables" like trees.


I see little people.

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-08-21, 20:58

Hi Chuck ...
... then I hope you'll like my latest attempt even better. face-smile.png
It is very similar.
I have done more pictures, chosen a slightly larger amplitude for the green stuff, and attenuated the brownish reflexes a bit and slowed down their movement.
Sorry, got no time for preparing an animated gif atm.

the new files are here
Please try them inside the game.
As always, anyone's opinion is welcome!


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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